For board and card game fans:
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I really want to like Root, but it has a few downsides for me.
- It’s long-ish (it says 60-90 minutes, but it’s more like 2+ hours range). Not a problem for me, but difficult to get buy-in from others.
- It’s complexity takes a few games to make sense which means, unless you are playing with a regular group, the person with the most experience tends to take the lead and win.
- I say “tends to” because even when you do understand all the working parts, it can sometimes seem like someone takes the lead for no apparent reason. Questions of “how did they get into the lead” are usually answered by “eight unrelated things, several of which they had no control over.”
It’s not a bad game, but I find you need the right group to really enjoy it past the “wow, look at this weird quirky game.” On the pro-side, it’s a good level of complexity where it sort of seeps into your brain while it works through a problem instead of seeming like an overly complicated set of rules, so you are more likely to want to play again than never want to pick it up again. Also, if you pick up the expansion you can play as a Lizard Cult or Beaver (maybe Otters, can’t remember) Walmart.
Lowell has a good write-up of Legacy: Life Among the Ruins, and all its variations. The game sounds really cool, and some of the variations wander far away from the post-apoc thing James would rather avoid.
For myself (@Dave will get this reference) I’d love to put together a “ships as families” version of this game that parallels the setup for the old Galactic rpg - it seems like a playable real version of the troupe play Galactic tried to pull off.
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The reason I bought my copy of Legacy: Life Among the Ruins was so I could read the Castlevania-inspired setting: Rhapsody of Blood. Turns out I didn’t need it (RoB includes the full rules from Legacy that it needs in order run) but I do still own a copy.
Love & Justice. A Lasers & Feelings hack for magical girls.
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Dammit, now I have the buy Betamaxxx to see if it is as awesome as it sounds.
For The Queen has an SRD and there’s a list of games out there for it: https://forthequeengame.com/games
Honestly the game I most want to see come out of this, and the game I’d be most likely to create, is one where you’re playing the suspects, assistants, and so on in a murder mystery, with the Great Detective as the Queen. Answer questions about your backstory, your connections, the current case, whatever, and the critical moment is when the detective gets everyone in the room and names the killer.
I re-read the link here and I’m wondering if this is a candidate for the same sort of play-by-forum/play-by-Discord thing you guys are doing with Ironsworn, but multi-player?
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On one hand, this is a really cool idea that I love. On the other hand, I know that I am historically and consistently bad at maintaining play by Post in the long-term. 
This whole post is really interesting. I like the focus on non male creators and also on shorter form games.
Of the people on that list, I own games from Avery Alder (Monsterhearts), Rose Bailey (V:tR), Marissa Kelly (Bluebeard’s Bride), Jenna Moran (several), and Sarah Newton (Mindjammer). I own Elizabeth Sampat’s book Empathy Engines and recommend it without reservation.
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While we’ve had a rocky history with Forged in the Dark games in the past, Beam Saber’s Kickstarter to get a printed book just went live a few days ago. Might not be for everyone, but it’s adjacent to genres I enjoy (over time I’ve come to learn I’m more of a Zoids: New Century (“fuck yeah, giant robots sports anime”) guy than a Gundam “war is hell” guy).
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I like the FitD dice mechanic, and didn’t jive well with anything else, but hey if someone wants to run it, I’m down.
One of the idea I’ve found interesting is Legacy: Life Amongst the Ruins, using the reskin for Spaaaaace.
The basic idea of Legacy is you’re playing both ‘your family/clan’ and a prominent person within that clan.
… and also supporting characters in each of the other player’s clans, when it’s called for.
The Spaaaace reskin reframes that to the Clan being a ship or group of ships, so (super simplified) everyone’s a ship captain doing their thing, and everyone’s playing their own ‘captain’ (doesn’t have to be a captain - rebellious Starbuck or Lee Adama or XO or whatever works too), and when you’re in the spotlight, everyone pulls their mini-PC for that fleet and joins in.
As I understand it.
It’s also generational, so you play to a point where the current arc concludes, then jump ahead X years and see where things have gotten to.
… and… as cool as that sounds to me, it also does not in ANY WAY sound like a short one-or-two sessions, so I’m NOT putting it up for consideration within the current pondering, which is why it’s here.
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Well, you know I’m a sucker for the “everyone plays supporting PCs to each other’s PCs/Captains/etc.” model.
For this Ungrateful City
The City you live in is a place of wonders and dangers.
The leaders of the City have become aware of a rising threat, unlike any the City has faced before.
The City has chosen you, a group of supers, to team up and face this threat.
The City chose you because she knows that you love her.
“For This Ungrateful City” is a Descended from the Queen game about a team of supers tasked with defending a City they may decide is not worth saving.
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